Economics

• Average white wealth is 20 times greater than that of African Americans, and 14 times greater than that of Latinos. In taxing wealth at a lower rate than we tax work, America is hardening existing racial disparities into an economic caste system with less mobility and longer odds at success for the non-rich. 
• On Race and Taxes, Both Parties Insist Upon Speaking No Evil

Imara Jones, Color Lines

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Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders joins a Democratic press conference in September 2011 to introduce legislation to safeguard Social Security. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

December 5 2012 | Last week I argued that the debate over taxes—a tussle at the heart of the current “fiscal cliff” discussions—is actually one about racial justice. Since questions of right and wrong must ultimately become about action, what America needs is a new tax policy that would get our financial house in order while fostering racial and economic fairness. The deficit reduction plan of independent United States Sen. Bernie Sanders would do just that.

The core inequity Sander’s plan tackles is that the United States taxes capital gains—income earned from wealth—less than income earned from work. This differential has had broad racial implications.

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Related:

On Race and Taxes, Both Parties Insist Upon Speaking No Evil, Imara Jones, Color Lines

November 30, 2012 | Our current national argument over taxes, debt and the fiscal cliff is nominally about balancing spreadsheets and the arcana of economic formulas, but it’s actually about race. And the fact that those on either side of the budget conversation—both Democrats and Republicans—will not acknowledge as much prevents us from having an honest conversation about what’s at stake.

• The economy becomes OUR economy when people have a say over economic issues and when the economy works for all of us rather than funneling wealth to the top 1%.
• Five Facts About America's Pathological Wealth Distribution

Kevin Zeese, It's Our Economy

Tuition is rising, college debt is at an all time high, as well as are defaults on student loans. Some may ask if college is even a worthwhile endeavour in this environment. Certainly the chart on the left raises the question of the value of a bachelor's degree. For the collection agencies, however, the student debt crisis is a windfall. Danny Weil takes an in-depth look at how we got into this situation through privatization of higher education and predatory lending practices.

It is Wall Street greed that is at the root of our many financial crises. The affordable housing crisis is largely due to investors buying distressed property to use as rentals and financial institutions keeping low-cost houses off the market in order to keep home prices artificially high and give homeowners who want to sell some confidence. Mike Whitney shows the smoke and mirrors behind the 'housing recovery' and why it may tank again.

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Related:

Five Facts About America's Pathological Wealth Distribution, Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams

• Americans are beginning to realize that years of preferential tax treatment for the rich, under the guise of "supply-side job creation" nonsense, have bloated the fortunes of the super-rich to a level that would make Rockefeller and Carnegie envious.
• Iceland Did It Right...and Everyone Else Is Doing It Wrong